The present invention relates to an LED (light-emitting diode) lamp capable of establishing visible light communication based on the illumination light of an LED, a power-line network system using such an LED lamp, an LED lamp usage in a power-line network system, and other applications of a visible light communication function of the LED lamp.
A communication function can be added to LED applications by incorporating the visible light communication function into an LED lighting device such as a straight tube type or light bulb type LED lamp. Such visible light communication based on LED light is described, for instance, in Japanese patent laid-open No. 2007-274566, Japanese patent laid-open No. 2012-191498, and Japanese patent laid-open No. 2011-124798. Japanese patent laid-open No. 2007-274566 states that the data to be transmitted (outgoing data) is received through a power line, temporarily stored, and then transmitted by using LED light. Japanese patent laid-open No. 2012-191498 states that the outgoing data is superimposed over visible light from an LED lamp and then transmitted, and that the outgoing data to be stored into a buffer memory is distributed from a server. Japanese patent laid-open No. 2011-124798 states that the data received through a local area network is transmitted by using LED light.